Morgan said he didn't let the possibility of a big-league call-up enter his mind after Wednesday night's start because nothing good comes of that.

"Honestly, if they didn't call me up at all," he said, "it's a privilege to be throwing again, coming back from what I went through.

"It was awesome to be put on the 40-man, awesome to be in big-league spring training and to be here in Triple-A. It just shows the organization believes in me."

Morgan was a much talked-about prospect in 2013. He was 0-1 with 1.93 ERA in three spring training games as a non-roster invitee with the Phillies before making 16 starts in his first Triple-A season with the IronPigs.

He missed 52 games during that year with a shoulder strain, then worked on a pitch limit the rest of the year. After the season, he was told he needed major shoulder surgery.

Morgan didn't pitch in 2014, then has slowly regained his form and feel with all of his pitches this season.

It was why the explanation originally given to him after Wednesday's game left him so perplexed. But Brundage acknowledged that his hands were tied.

"I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do because [Phillies management] said, 'You're not to tell him [about the promotion] after the game,'" the third-year Lehigh Valley manager said. "So that puts me in limbo.

"I'm standing in the dugout trying to figure what to tell Adam Morgan. The best thing I could come up with was, 'We're going to limit your innings.' I had a pissed-off pitcher at me for about two or three hours.